Next Restaurant: A Sold-Out Show

by Paige Ross

on 08/05/11 at 03:00 PM

Grant Achatz, the chef of Alinea in Chicago, is conquering one of the last vestiges of old-school restaurants--the reservation--at his latest project, Next. Each night, diners enjoy a themed menu that changes four times a year, and like any great performance, Next requires its clientele to purchase a ticket in advance.

While it might sound like a risky proposition for a diner, it makes perfect sense for the restaurateur. The demand for a dinner reservation around 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday is far greater than that for 9:30 on a Wednesday night. Achatz and his business partner, Nick Kokonas, have incentivized the less desirable reservations by lowering their price, making them seem like winning lotto tickets to a would-be diner. Conversely, the peak-time dinners are more expensive, garnering more money for the restaurant.

To fans of Achatz, all the seating times are appealing, as evidenced by the sale of tickets for the second themed menu, "Tour of Thailand," which managed to crash the restaurant's Web server immediately after the $85 to $3,000 tickets went on sale last month. After the glitch was fixed, the three-month reserve of tables for the Thai menu completely sold out in 90 minutes.

Would you rather make a reservation and pay after the meal, or buy a ticket for dinner?